The invention relates generally to welding systems and, more particularly, to an adjustable drive shaft assembly for use in welding wire feeders.
Welding is a process that has increasingly become ubiquitous in various industries and applications. While such processes may be automated in certain contexts, a large number of applications continue to exist for manual welding operations. Such welding operations rely on a variety of types of equipment to ensure the supply of welding consumables (e.g., wire feed, shielding gas, etc.) is provided to the weld in an appropriate amount at a desired time. For example, metal inert gas (MIG) welding typically relies on a wire feeder to ensure a proper wire feed reaches a welding torch.
Such wire feeders facilitate the feeding of welding wire from a wire spool, through a pair of feed rolls, to the welding torch at a desired wire feed rate. The feed rolls include grooves designed to hold the welding wire in position as it is conveyed between the feed rolls and through the wire feeder. To facilitate smooth feeding of the welding wire, the feed rolls are generally located in the wire feeder such that the grooves of each of the feed rolls are aligned with each other. Unfortunately, machine tolerances in the feed rolls and other wire feeder components may lead to misalignment of the feed roll grooves and, therefore, misalignment of the welding wire moving through the wire feeder.